Conflict in western Burma's Arakan state has displaced thousands of Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Arakanese. From the Burmese border, Francis Wade examines the complex origins and motives behind the violence.

“Countless contradictory analyses have seen the light of day about the ensuing bloody events in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, on whose embarrassing convolutions there is no need to dwell. Because it is clear that what is above all missing from all the explanations is the human being. Or -- if we can...